Koko-yakyu:
HighSchool Baseball
is a unique documentary film
project that will bring the passion, pageantry, and pride of Japanese
high school baseball to the world for the very first time.
Over the last four years, Ichiro Suzuki has introduced Japanese baseball
to the US with his unrelenting assault on the baseball record books.
Appearing in our film, Hideki “Godzilla” Matsui, former MVP in Japan,
is now a recognized all-star on America’s most famous franchise, the
Yankees. Koko-yakyu will bring viewers inside the world that produced
these players, providing a window into a notoriously closed baseball
culture.
Baseball in Japan is considered a spiritual discipline, teaching many
of the values that define the Japanese Bushido tradition of teamwork,
dedication, discipline, and respect. Over 4,000 school teams compete
year-round in elimination tournaments in hopes of making it to Japan’s
most popular sports event, the National High School Baseball Championship
Tournament.
The tournament is a two-week
national summer festival held at Japan’s most sacred ballpark, 80-year-old
Koshien Stadium.
Principal photography was completed this summer over 10 weeks, where
focus was on two school teams striving to make it to Koshien.
Kokoyakyu will introduce the world to the players at Tennoji
Public High School in Osaka, and their supportive manager, Masa-sensei.
On the other extreme is Chiben Wakayama Private High School and their
famously tough manager, Takashima-sensei, the winningest manager in
high school baseball history.
Dozens of interviews with players, fans, teachers, journalists, and
historians will help uncover the meaning of bushido baseball and its
place in modern-day Japan. Post-production is currently under way. We
are actively working to secure the final budget to have Kokoyakyu finished
this summer.
-Alex
Shear (producer)
alex@projectilearts.org
